Sept. 23, 2011
TEMPE- The Arizona State University volleyball team opened up their home conference slate Friday, falling in five sets to Washington State, 3-2, at Wells Fargo Arena.
Freshman Nora Tuioti-Mariner matched her season and career high in kills with 17, posting just three errors in the process and a .438 hitting percentage while adding two solo blocks and four block assists during the tilt. Four Sun Devils posted double-digit kills while sophomore Sarah McGaffin tallied a career-high 56 assists. As a team, Arizona State (4-8, 0-3) finished with a .215 hitting percentage with 64 kills and 27 errors.
On the heels of a monster performance from Meagan Ganzer (30 kills, .308 hitting percentage), Washington State (9-4, 1-2) used a fierce rally to climb back from two sets down, reeling off three straight sets to earn the victory.
ASU got off to a quick start in the first set, taking a 4-0 lead withstanding a couple minor Cougar rallies and closed on a 5-1 run to take a 1-0 set lead in the contest. Tuioti-Mariner and Ashley Kastl both tallied four kills in the set while the Sun Devils committed just six errors to 16 kills.
The second set was more of a back-and-forth affair, with neither team taking more than a two-point lead during a set that featured 14 ties and five lead changes. Despite that, ASU had only three errors to 13 kills and a .345 hitting percentage.
Junior Erica Wilson tallied five kills and no errors before capping off the set with an ace to give the Sun Devils a 26-24 victory and a 2-0 set lead heading into the break.
Arizona State got the third set started out much like the first, jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead. Washington State rallied strong though, despite seven kills from Tuioti-Mariner, and a 4-0 run midway through the set brought WSU within 17-16. The two teams went back and forth through the remainder of the set before Wilson had just her second error of the night to give the Cougars the 25-23 set victory and climb back to within 2-1 in the match.
Wazzu continued to hold the momentum through the fourth set, pulling away to an early 10-5 lead and cruising to a 25-19 victory as the Sun Devils managed only a .098 hitting percentage with eight errors to send the match into the decisive fifth set.
Like much of the rest of the matchup, the fifth set was saw the teeter-totter effect with 10 tie scores and four lead changes with the Cougars closing on a 3-1 run to seal the match and finalize the comeback.
A raucous student section led the spirited crowd of 1,073 in attendance to witness the Sun Devils first-ever Pac-12 home matchup.
Arizona State will be back in action Sunday, Sept. 25 at 1 p.m. against Washington at Wells Fargo Arena.